Pendennis: The Observer Diary, by Oliver Marre

Does David Irving deserve this platform?

Having approached him for Celebrity Big Brother and then decided against including him, Channel 4 still seems determined to give the controversial historian David Irving, once imprisoned in Austria for Holocaust denial, plenty of airtime.

On Tuesday night, C4's offshoot channel, More4, is showing a 90-minute documentary, An Independent Mind, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is publicising it heavily, with a special screening the night before at the Royal Society of Arts, hosted by Channel 4 News's foreign correspondent Jonathan Miller. According to the puff: 'This unique film gives a voice to eight characters from around the world who have fought to exercise their right to free speech.'

What C4 doesn't say is that the film's eighth and final hero is Irving. The timing is fortunate for Irving, if not for the rest of us, since he's currently trying to flog his self-published misery memoir.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews tells me the programme should not be shown. 'Whatever airtime David Irving gets is too much,' says chief executive Jon Benjamin. 'Here, he once again seems to be casting himself in the role of victim.'

The Board of Deputies says that although Irving has a right to free speech, it should be tempered by debate.

As Irving objects to being called a Holocaust denier and is in the habit of writing to newspapers that do so, I've gone in search of a better description. His personal website offers Hitler's walking stick for sale, refers repeatedly to Jews as 'nice folks' (including during a magnificent attempt to ally himself to John Cleese, because the comedian is divorcing his wife, who is Jewish) and carries links to his flattering biographies of Hitler and Goebbels. Any suggestions?

You try to help the Tories and this is the thanks you get

Last week, we learnt that recent Tory donors include a duke, two earls and David Cameron's baronet father-in-law. The week before, we discovered that George Osborne's baronet father was also dipping his hand into his (corporate) pocket.

But how different it could have been. I'm told that in April, trendy, gay, self-made entrepreneur Ivan Massow attempted to give £1,000 to the Conservatives, only to have it returned as unacceptable, because he lives abroad and is not on the electoral roll.

It's noteworthy that Massow wants to be back in touch with the Tories. He was once close to Margaret Thatcher, but left the party in 2000 in protest against its attitude towards homosexuality. However, as a former flatmate of popular education spokesman Michael Gove, the new order was always going to appeal. 'I'm living a very sedate and non-UK existence out in Los Angeles at the moment,' he tells me.

For hire: one used 'dictator'

This column has reported that you can hire former MI5 chief Lady Manningham-Buller for an after-dinner speaking engagement. If you want someone more controversial, I now hear you can opt for former President Musharraf of Pakistan. Barack Obama has described him as 'a dictator', but the Harry Walker Agency is touting him on the circuit as an expert on, among other things, 'crisis management'. The agency's other clients include William Hague, which should provide some ammunition to Dave Cameron in his battle to persuade those members of his shadow cabinet who aren't privately rich to give up this sort of lucrative extra-curricular employment.

Sky falls in on Emma Crosby

An upset for GMTV's grand relaunch. It planned to start new presenter Emma Crosby in January but according to sources at her current employer, Sky News, the channel will have to wait.

'She resigned at the end of November and has a four-month notice period,' I'm told. 'There's no reason why she should leave before the end of February.'

Expect a cross Crosby on Sky between now and then.

Cherie's at it again

Cherie Blair remains controversial. She's been invited to address the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic institution in Rome with ties to the Vatican, on 12 December. Anti-abortion campaigners say she should not have been asked and they'll protest.

How to bag Putin

Andrew Lloyd Webber says the BBC Moscow office was not wholehearted in its congratulations on his scoop interview with Vladimir Putin. 'They didn't understand how a light entertainment programme had the access.' He is hugely rich, which helps. Last year, Mrs Putin considered buying a Picasso the composer was flogging. So cosy.

Recipe for disaster

Moral of the week: affairs don't pay - much. Sarah Symonds, Gordon Ramsay's soi-disant mistress, shifted just 46 copies of her book Having an Affair in the week the story of their tangle broke. That said, in the previous weeks she sold two and four copies respectively.